My Tata Nano: A New Journey Begins

[ss80]

Update:
Painted wheel caps black
Bought new door visors
AC gas top up done
Bonnet interior had a bit rust, last time i had painted only outside, so this time masked the edges and painted inside


few pics now















and a short video of a new chotu gun I purchased
https://youtu.be/asD9iouZseI

 

[incarnation]

@SS80 nice job bro. However the pic with the black wheel cap and the door vissor would have added to the charm of the Nano please do post the pics of it soon. waiting eagerly.

 

[ss80]

Thanks bhai. Here is a pic with a bit of editing to the surrounding

 

[incarnation]

looks awesome, the wet look of the polish is adding to the silver colour, looking great!!!! keep up the goood work bro. waiting to read more and more on your Nano.

 

[ss80]

Thank you everybody.
As we all know the Nano has a long and narrow windshield. Although view is awesome, sun manages to burn thighs, seat edges, steering wheel, gear knob etc Too hot to handle for initial 10 - 15mins. Hence went to a shop and got a black strip attached to the top. He has not done great job as such, but I dint want to trouble him much so just left it as it is.
Now AC cooling would mildly improve too.










This might sound a bit silly, to update a small vinyl job here. But then for someone like me, where in this is my first car with a functional ac, it is quite an update.

 

[akmalazim]

Thank you everybody.
As we all know the Nano has a long and narrow windshield. Although view is awesome, sun manages to burn thighs, seat edges, steering wheel, gear knob etc Too hot to handle for initial 10 - 15mins. Hence went to a shop and got a black strip attached to the top. He has not done great job as such, but I dint want to trouble him much so just left it as it is.
Now AC cooling would mildly improve too.

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This might sound a bit silly, to update a small vinyl job here. But then for someone like me, where in this is my first car with a functional ac, it is quite an update.

I too did the same Anand bhai ! how much did it cost you ?

 

[shrijit303]

Ss80,the black wheel caps and the door visors look cool.Also the editing has enhanced the photo more!

 

[incarnation]

One humble Request SS80 please paint the disk with dull black as well, as its looking odd.

 

[akmalazim]

One humble Request SS80 please paint the disk with dull black as well, as its looking odd.

You voiced out my thoughts !

 

[ss80]

Thanks all,
Painting rims takes more time and effort. Hence dint get into it this time. However I will do it as and when time permits. Our thoughts are similar on this :D

@Akmal - the vinyl strip costed 200/- for 7inches coverage

 

[ss80]

8000kms completed in 6 months - latest trip to Yelagiri

Its been sometime since I took the car out. These days I am taking scooter to work, hence mon -fri I dont start the car. The car has developed a small issue with starter motor I guess, so when key is turned the car does not crank, instead only a tick noise comes in. Try a few times and then it cranks. Hence using car less these days.

Been to Yelagiri yesterday. Took a totally unusual route and it was awesome.

Bangalore - > Bangarpet > Kuppam > Thirupattur > yelagiri > thirupattur, krishnagiri > hosur > Bangalore.

The road from Bangarpet to kuppam was literrally parallel to the railway line, plenty of off roading, near Patchur there is road that is like full of ups and downs, car flies off after 60kmph on most of the ups. Overall awesome trip of 400kms and back home.

Plenty of pics coming up now.









Now thats what I call comfort!

 

[akmalazim]

Re: 8000kms completed in 6 months - latest trip to Yelagiri

Its been sometime since I took the car out. These days I am taking scooter to work, hence mon -fri I dont start the car. The car has developed a small issue with starter motor I guess, so when key is turned the car does not crank, instead only a tick noise comes in. Try a few times and then it cranks. Hence using car less these days.

SS80 the starter motor issue is common thing for nano in the past! tata did change the starter motor of the earlier batch ! do get it checked it with ASC asap ! it might let u down stranded somewhere in the wilderness

 

[ss80]

Akmal: Yep will get that checked soon.

Its been 8600kms since I bought it. So its preventive maintenance time :)

Oil change = Bosch 20W40 2.5ltrs (although manual says 2.2only) - unable to measure precisely as I bought a 3.5ltrs can. Hence extra in the engine.

Coolant flush = Complete old coolant hose down and fresh coolant with distilled water. It takes a long time to complete this in Nano as we have the engine and radiatr in the back and heater unit in front. Despite idling for over 30mins and waiting for air bubbles to come out, still there were air bubbles in the pipeline. After driving another 200kms I opened up the engine lid to see the liquid levels and yes - the entire coolant reservoir is empty - Topped it up again.

The location of oil filter in nano is a huge issue. Its below the rear seat, to change oil filter I had to remove entire back seat (reclining side and base), remove the base carpet, remove a plastic cover and there is a small gap to force your hand into.

It was stuck so tight that I just could not open it, even the standard oil filter removal tool cant be used in this tight space. WD-40 was a waste. Now just changed the oil and left the oil filter as it is.

Ever since the oil change
- the engine now does not knock @ 45- 55kmph in 4th gear
- A flat 50kms increase in the full tank range! so for 850/- approx I can do 300kms easily unlike the 250 -260 before.
- smoothness is increased - throttle response is nice too.

Going further planning to change oil every 5000kms instead of the actual 10000kms. A few pics

 

[ss80]

Small update:
Been to service center, got the oil filter, fuel filter changed & the steering rack & pinion was refit as last time they had not fit properly. Steering feels much better now.

 

[ss80]

Yesterday completed 9000kms and had my first breakdown!

I was on my way to lepakshi with family, about 10kms from the airport the Engine Check light came on and a loud beep beep noise from the instrument cluster had started. This is where things get ugly,
stopped the car and asked all family members to come out, while I opened the painfully slow process of opening 6 bolts and then to my horror - coolant had splashed all over engine (inlcuding ecu). So started cleaning as much as possible and then found poured about 1.5ltrs of water in radiator & coolant tank. drove another 20kms, same scene again.

This time my family members were quite disappointed with the way the trip had gone. This time, there is coolant, but radiator fan does not kick in on time! coolant boils and then ecu light comes on , fan kicks in. So had to cancel the trip and took U turn and drove back to bangalore.

Long back I had read in TAI about the engine overheat situation and how to handle it. It helped big time. Since radiator & fan were not working in sync, I switched on blower full speed and left heater ON and drove in peak heat in afternoon with all windows open. Those 70kms made me literally hate rear engine. Now car is parked outside home.